israel-palestine peace talks

   The peace talks between israel and palestine have started once more. There is doubt in most of our minds if this is actually going to work concerning that peace talks have been taking place for 50 years on the subject and nothing seems to have changed. The Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas had threatened to pull out of the peace talks unless Mr.Netanyahuh suspend the building of houses in palestinian earth as expected the israelis have no motivation of stopping what there doing. Now lets turn to Mr.Abbas there is no point talking to this man as he isnt the power in palestine the hamas is nothing can be agreed without the Hamases say so. Perahps these are the days that we have all been waiting for but l think not and we probably have a long way to go before we get there. l am in the attempt of making a tender boiled octopus so l will have to stop there. l am sorry l have not been able to write and all that as l have been busy with school and social life.

The Strathardle Games

  Its another bore that we have to shuffle through every year but after it ends u are dying for it to come again. Its remotely intresting for about an estimate of 30 mins then it starts too drag. Its nice as its the meeting place for our family. It does spark some excitement when some relative decides on wanting to race and ofcourse the home industries tent is extremely important this year as l was in america and my brothers didnt see the point my grandmother as always did. Though this year she only entered three potatoes and l can admit they looked a bit pitiful but if the judges new anything of potatoes they would distinguish hers as they were fine specimens of that potatoe species. We had plenty of excitement on the race front my cousin jo zoomed through all of them and earned a lot of money for my grandmother (who immediately takes it all (not sure why). My intelligent 7 year old cousin told her this: 'Dont leave that money hangin around u should put it in a bank and use it for compost intrest'. As l am writing this lm back in athens and the summer holidays have cme to an end and have just slumped myself on this computer after going though some maths equations.

New York

   What people say about NY are anything but exagerated. For me it was like arriving in another planet skyscrapers looming over my head and it trully is the city that never sleeps. l had a good introduction to the place as 2 are arrival we went to dine at 'The Oyster Bar'. We dug in to a handful of raw oyster following for myself some fried catfish while my great uncle dug into a some sought of soup which contained: half a lobster, mussels and scallops. There l was educated about the difrent classes in the restraunt as l aked someone who l presumed a waiter for a reconmendation he looked at me scowled, mumbled something under his breath and left. l was baffled and my uncle quickly explained how it all worked. When we had finished we went over to the subway taking a train to times square. It was quite late in the evening and that made it even more spectacular. Another thing which l found so intresting is the variety of spoken languages with the majority standing with chinease. We walked around for a good while before retreating to our hotel. We woke up the next morning and quikcly got dressed and checked out and went to get some breakfast. Which we did while sitting down on a bench in central park. After finishing my delicious omelete sandwich. We caried on with our journey. We walked all the way up to the metropolitan museum where we spent a good 3 hours looking at the various artifacts. At this stage my uncle was worn out but l wasnt. l stormed through the streets until we found a deli where we had sandwiches. We discused what we were going to do next. And we came to the conclusion that we would head down towards the statin island ferry. We did this again through the subway which didnt take very long before goinjg off to the ferry itself which l had been told was the greatest deal in the city. The view from the water was like nothing l had ever seen before and the elegant statue of liberty made it a even more powerful moment. When we had  finished with that we spent a good  whle walking about before catching the 6:30 train to New Haven.

The boat ride

   We embarked on a picnic boat trip with Jenifer and Ron. We packed up the food and placed them carefully one by one in the boat before placing ourselves on the soft cushioned seats which were numerous in the boat itself. The night before we went to hear her talk about Haiti and what there trying 2 do. So a lot of talk of haiti with perhaps a bit of my life in Greece and the various inhabitants on the Connecticut River. We sweped through the water before slowing down at a cove where other boats were also embarking on a picnic. The food Jenifer brought was spectacular it consisted of beef riblets, a lovely pasta salad with lobster and prawns and for desert some cookies. On the return journey l was apointed river of the boat so that is what l did. After we had unpacked we went off to the nearest yaught club to listen to a band play music. We had to go soon after woulds beause the dog had been locked up in his cage long enough. Before leaving l was given a folder by Jenifer which inside was found her finished book about her hospital in Haiti and l was to edit it as best l could.

The yaught trip and the lobster roll

   After the picnic that Friday evening we where invited to a  trip on there yaught. After much collaberation we decided 2 go using are bikes. The journey there was about 8 miles  passing through big roads and narrowly missing the gigantic cars that you find everywhere in america. It was a large and modern house which l found had a very intresting variety of haitian art (As the owner a lady called Jenifer runs a hospital in Haiti and sells the local art to the americans to raise money 2 benifit the society in the village where the hospital is situated). Jenifers husband a lovely man who owned the boat greeted us with his grandson read who the night before had become a friend of mine. When we did at last board the boat we were greeted by no wind Sadly because of the this we were not able to get that far and soon had to turn back as if we did carry on it would take a good while before we could get back. Despite that we had an enjoyable but short ride on the river. Today we went off for lunch to this seaside restraunt where we ate this most amazing delicacy known as a lobster roll. l would recomend if u ever are eating a lobster roll to empty out all the melted butter into the roll as it gives a very juicy flavour to this wonderful roll.

America

    Its a fun country to stay in and its amzazing how diffrent we are cultury. There are a lot of flags around and rather big cars. The food is very good and l had the best burger of my life at this place called Jack Rabbit. We have done numerous things during the 5 days lve been here l arrived  on tuesday and on the same day had a very nice meal at this place called Alforno. Wednesday we spent most of the time resting as l had not yet got used to the time. Ofcourse my sailing course started the day after and ended on the weakend. We did a race on Friday it was all rather messy as most of the people there hadn't sailed for a whole year. l show great pity atthe kids who had never sailed before to be sudenly told 2 go and rig up a bluejay as we are doing a race. Most of us completly messed up the course and just did big rectangles until it was time to head back. During the race the expected happened and everyone collided together and numerous boats capsized even though there was hardly any wind. After the club was over me and my uncle roger cycled to the beach with some friends to enjoy a evening picnic for the rest of the day.

My holiday in Wales